What actually happened

Two events, eight months apart.

September 17, 2025. HUD’s Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity withdrew its two long-standing assistance-animal guidance documents, FHEO Notice 2013-01 and FHEO 2020-01. No replacement was issued, and the question sat unaddressed for several months.

May 22, 2026. FHEO issued a new enforcement memorandum, signed by Assistant Secretary Craig Trainor, permanently rescinding the 2020 notice and setting out a new position. Effective immediately, for animal-related reasonable accommodation complaints, FHEO will find reasonable cause and recommend charges only in cases involving animals individually trained to perform work or tasks related to the person’s disability.

In plain terms: a complaint to HUD about a landlord refusing an untrained emotional support animal will now be dismissed or receive a no-cause finding.

HUD is applying the training standard the ADA uses for service animals. One difference is worth noting — HUD is not limiting assistance animals to dogs the way the ADA does, but it is limiting them to animals that are individually trained.

What has not changed

This part gets lost in the coverage, and it matters.

Guidance is not law. An agency memorandum explains how that agency will use its enforcement discretion. It does not amend the Fair Housing Act, and it does not create or remove statutory rights. HUD has said it intends to begin rulemaking that would eventually produce a binding regulation on assistance-animal standards. No such regulation exists today.

The statute is intact. The FHA’s reasonable accommodation requirement is unchanged.

Private lawsuits remain available. A tenant can bring an FHA claim in court independently of whether HUD will investigate. Courts are not bound by an agency’s enforcement priorities, and the existing body of case law on assistance animals still stands.

State law is untouched. Most states have their own fair housing statutes covering assistance animals, with their own enforcement agencies. Those operate regardless of what FHEO does.

State law is now the main protection

This is the practical consequence, and it is where your attention should go.

Many states have fair housing statutes that explicitly recognise assistance animals or emotional support animals, enforced by a state civil rights or human rights agency. Where such a statute exists, you can file directly with that agency — and its interpretation is not governed by HUD’s enforcement memo.

Across the states where this practice is licensed, the picture varies:

• Washington — the Law Against Discrimination (RCW 49.60) prohibits housing discrimination on the basis of disability including the use of support animals, enforced by the Washington State Human Rights Commission. Washington also makes misrepresenting an animal as a service animal a civil infraction under RCW 49.60.214.
• Maryland — the Maryland Fair Housing Law provides state-level protections alongside the FHA.
• Colorado — state law addresses ESA misrepresentation as a petty offense, alongside state fair housing protections.
• New Hampshire — no ESA-specific statute beyond the FHA; the NH Human Rights Commission enforces state and federal fair housing law.
• Iowa and New Mexico — enforcement through the Iowa Civil Rights Commission and the New Mexico Human Rights Bureau respectively.

Find your state’s fair housing agency and its assistance-animal provisions specifically. That is a more productive hour than reading federal material that is under active revision.

The trained-task distinction now matters a great deal

Under the new federal standard, whether an animal is individually trained to do something is the dividing line for HUD enforcement.

An emotional support animal helps by being present. A psychiatric service animal is trained to perform a specific task — applying deep pressure to interrupt a panic attack, performing a room search for someone with PTSD, alerting to rising anxiety and prompting a coping response, or retrieving medication.

If your animal genuinely performs a trained task related to your disability, that is worth documenting properly, because it changes which category you fall into federally. If it does not, do not claim that it does — misrepresentation carries penalties in several states and will not survive scrutiny.

Task training is real training. It takes months, and no letter or certificate substitutes for it.

When a landlord can still say no

Independently of the enforcement change, an accommodation request can generally be refused where:

• The specific animal poses a direct threat to health or safety that cannot be mitigated — based on that animal’s actual behaviour, not breed or size
• The specific animal would cause substantial property damage that cannot be mitigated
• The accommodation would impose an undue financial or administrative burden, or fundamentally alter operations
• The building falls within one of the FHA’s narrow exemptions — certain owner-occupied buildings with few units, some single-family rentals without a broker, some religious or private club housing. State law may still cover you where federal law does not.

How to make a request now

1. Get a legitimate letter from a provider licensed in your state who has actually evaluated you, on letterhead, with licence type and number.
2. Check your state’s law first and cite the state statute in your request, not only the FHA.
3. Put it in writing and keep copies of everything, with dates.
4. If refused, go to your state agency rather than HUD, and consider speaking with a fair housing attorney about a private FHA claim.
5. Do not misrepresent an untrained animal as a trained one.

Does an ESA letter still have value?

Yes, and we would say so even if we did not provide them — but the claim needs to be accurate rather than promotional.

A letter from a licensed provider still establishes that you have a disability and a disability-related need for the animal. That is the foundation of any accommodation request, whether it goes to a landlord, a state agency, or a court. Many landlords will still grant accommodations, particularly in states with their own statutes and in markets where property managers prefer not to litigate.

What has changed is that a letter no longer comes with federal enforcement behind it if the landlord refuses. Any service telling you an ESA letter guarantees acceptance is not describing the current position.

Frequently asked questions

Can a landlord charge a pet deposit for an ESA now?

HUD’s withdrawn guidance said assistance animals are not pets and fees should not be charged. With that guidance rescinded and federal enforcement narrowed, expect more landlords to attempt it. State law may still prohibit it. Get advice rather than simply paying.

Are ESA housing rights gone?

No. Federal enforcement for untrained ESAs has largely stopped. The statutory right, private lawsuits, and state protections remain.

Does my ESA have to be a dog?

HUD’s new position limits assistance animals to individually trained animals but does not restrict them to dogs, unlike the ADA. State law may address species directly.

Should I file with HUD or my state?

Your state agency, in most cases. Complaints to HUD about untrained ESAs are now expected to receive no-cause findings.

Is this permanent?

Unclear. It is enforcement guidance, not a regulation. HUD has said it intends to pursue rulemaking, which would be a more durable change and would go through public comment.

Does this affect air travel?

No. Airlines have not been required to accommodate ESAs since 2021, under a separate rule. The air travel position.

A real evaluation, and an honest account of what it does

Samz Mental Health provides ESA letters following a genuine evaluation with a board-certified psychiatric nurse practitioner licensed in your state. We will not promise you an outcome the current rules do not support.

Learn About ESA Letters